31
Jul
2015

What Should We Do When They Stray?

Of all the painful experiences that I have had to face through nearly a decade in ministry–the death of a mother, couples enduring the heartbreak of miscarriage, strife, abuse, divorce, scandal, etc.–having to walk with a godly father and mother through the dark shadows of having a child rebel is among the most difficult. There are many difficult and painful experiences that ministers face, but the spiritual rebellion of a child of a believer weighs heavily on the heart of any true minister of the Gospel. Perhaps it weighs heavy on my heart because I was one such rebellious child brought up in a Christian home. Though I was nurtured in an extremely spiritually and theologically strong Christians home, I ran from it–and to the spiritual darkness and sin of this world–as far and as fast as I could.

Not long after I was converted, news of my conversion spread through the church that I began attending in Greenville, SC. People would frequently approach me to ask if I would reach out to their son or their daughter–children who were living prodigal lifestyles akin to that which I had lived. The first year of my conversion exposed me to the prevalent nature of such rebellion among children who had grown up in Christian homes. I started to realize a few things as I labored to bring the Gospel to young adults who were strung out on pharmaceuticals, cocaine, acid, crack, meth, MDMA, etc. First, I realized how true my Calvinistic beliefs really were (i.e. unless the Lord–in His sovereign mercy and grace–redeems, all is hopeless); and, second, I realized that most of the parents were at a loss to know how to pursue their rebellious covenant child. The only example that I had was that which was etched in my mind by the actions of my father and mother. Today, whenever I am counseling the parents of a rebellious child, there are five things that I always remind Christian parents with rebellious children:

1. Pray the Promises of God for Your Children. Incessantly ask the Lord to fulfill his covenant promises on behalf of your children. God has given believers large promises. While the salvation of your children is ultimately dependent on the sovereign grace and mercy of God, the agency of godly parents often plays an important role. Many times, the Lord has answered the prayers of the parents of rebellious children in order to bring them to salvation. This is part of the mystery of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Such was the case with Augustine of Hippo, who attributed his conversion to the Lord answering the prayers of his mother, Monica. That account has been a constant source of encouragement for Christian parents. The mother of one of the greatest theologians in all of church history incessantly prayed down the promises of God from heaven for her son. So too ought Christians parents of rebellious children.

2. Pray that God will Surround Your Children with Strong Christian Friends. Through all of my years of rebellion, I knew that my parents were praying that the Lord would bring godly young men and women into my life–and that is exactly what He did. I would often find myself working with Christians who reached out to me with Scripture and the Gospel. I would see God answering that prayer by having my sister introduce me to new believers who had been saved out of similar lifestyles of rebellion. I’ll never forget how, on one occasion, a biker at a bar I was at began witnessing to me and asked if he could pray for me in the bar in front of my unbelieving friends. That experience will forever be etched in my mind as a direct answer to the prayers of my parents. A month before I was brought to saving faith and repentance, I met my best friend, Stephen–who had been strung out on Ketamine (a cat tranquilizer and club drug) and had been enslaved to many of the same things to which I had been enslaved. Stephen had been converted at a conference under the preaching of John Piper. When I met Stephen, I saw something in his eyes– joy and satisfaction in Christ for which I longed. Stephen tried to get me to go to church with him one Sunday night. I went and then left immediately before the call to worship. Still, I remember thinking to myself, “I wish that I had what he has!” A month later–after the Lord gave me a new heart–I called Stephen to come and get me and take me from Asheville, NC to Greenville, SC. Stephen was a direct answer to the prayers and efforts of my parents to surround me with strong, spiritually minded Christians.

3. Pray that God will Do What it Takes to Bring Your Children to Himself. Though no one likes the thought of asking God to “do whatever it takes,” this is a prayer that we should all be willing to pray for our children. The Lord often brings individuals to rock bottom in order for them to see their need for the Savior. This is certainly the testimony of the Gospels. It is remarkable that the majority of those who trust the Savior are those with afflictions or who have been enslaved in prodigal living. In fact, this is the very teaching of the parable of the prodigal son. When he finally hit rock bottom (eating the pods that the swine ate), he remembered the love of the Father and the comforts of the Father’s house. The prodigal son, Jesus tells us, “came to himself” (that’s shorthand for “repented”) and returned to His Father. In many cases, the Lord brings covenant children back to Himself by striping them of the comforts that they once experienced. This is also the teaching of excommunication in the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul says that when one is excommunicated for unrepentant sin, they are being “delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that their spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5). Godly parents should pray that the Lord does whatever is necessary to save their children. Better to have redeemed children who have had to suffer hardship than to have healthy and prosperous children who perish eternally.

4. Pursue Your Children with the Word of God. This is arguably the most significant thing that my parents did through almost a decade of my rebellion. My dad (though he will tell you how unfaithful he was) was extremely faithful to read the Scriptures to my sister and me. We had many copies of Bagster’s Daily Light (the most purely biblical devotional in print!) sitting around our house. If my dad was not reading to us out of a book of the Bible, he would be teaching us out of the Daily Light. When I was getting into deeper and deeper spiritual darkness, my father was more and more intentional about reading the Scriptures to me.

When I was a young boy, my dad had taught us the significance of Romans 9. In the weeks leading up to my conversion I remember asking myself, “What if I am a vessel of wrath prepared for destruction?” The Lord used the strong emphasis that my dad placed on the significance of even difficult portions of Scripture to bring me to Himself. The truth of Romans 9, interestingly, encouraged me to cry out to the Lord for redemption.

I distinctly remember how, on one occasion, I had been out all night partying and was still under the influence of drugs the next morning. My dad woke me up and called me out to our living room. He began to read from the Daily Light. The first verse that he read that morning was John 8:12, where Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” I sat there knowing that Jesus, the Living Word, was speaking directly to me through the written word. Though I wasn’t converted until many years after that experience, it was still formative and the Lord used it in bringing me to Himself in the end.

In addition to reading Scripture together, write particular verses out in a letter or on an index card and hand it to your children when they are in your home. There is something special about handing a handwritten letter–or card–with Scripture in it to you son or daughter. It shows personal and specific spiritual care for them. God has promised to use His word to bring men and women to Himself. The Lord declared through Jeremiah the prophet,“Is not My word like a fire?…And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces” (Jer. 23:29)? Only the word of God can break apart a heart hardened by sin and rebellion. So, Christian parents, continue to set the word of God before your rebellious child.

5. Be Firm but Loving in Addressing Your Children. This is the last thing with which I try to encourage Christian parents with rebellious children. Far too many parents think that they can love their children into the Kingdom by being soft on them. Nothing is further than the truth. Surely, the goodness of God bring us to repentance–and He often uses the kindness of Christian parents to reflect His goodness (even toward rebellious children). However, when we read the Scriptures, we find the Savior and the Apostles being serious and firm in their teaching against sin and rebellion. There is a seriousness with which we ought to address our children when they are rebelling. When I was at the height of my rebellion, my dad and mom came to visit me. I will forever remember my dad looking at me and saying, “Nick, you chose this day, blessings or curses. If you continue living the way you are and continue to reject Christ, you are choosing covenant curses.” This was a very powerful warning that I needed to hear. It was a loving thing for my dad to confront me in this way. He knew that saying hard things might drive me further away from he and my mother, but in the end, he knew that the Lord uses such things to bring individuals back to Christ. In fact, this is precisely what the Lord said to Israel: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deut. 30:19). The Lord used my father’s forthrightness and sobriety in bringing warnings and promises before me.

That being said, it is possible for parents to swing the pendulum from the one extreme of enabling and weakness to the other extreme of heavy-handedness. There must be a balance between sternness and tenderness. The Apostle Paul warns against fathers provoking their children to anger by being too heavy-handed (see Eph. 6:4). We must always have hearts that are full of tender affection for our children. We should weep much when they rebel. We should show them affection in the midst of their rebellion, but we must be direct and firm in bringing the warnings and the promises of Scripture to bear upon them.

Whenever I hear that one of the children of believers in our congregation is straying–or has been straying from Christ for quite some time–my heart fills with sorrow. I think of the many hours that godly parents have spent teaching them the Scriptures, praying with and for them and having them among the congregation of the saints who are worshiping the Lord week in and week out. I think of the pain that they are experiencing as they know that they cannot change their child’s heart. I think of my own inability to change their hearts. I think of the hardships that they might face if they do not repent. I think of the years of my own rebellion–the powerful enslavement to sin. Then I think of how God, in his most amazing and astonishing sovereign mercy and grace, saved a wretch like me. I think of the many others that He has redeemed late in life and I am encouraged to pray more fervently for them. I think of the fact that the Gospel is for rebels–that God loves the prodigal and receives and welcomes them home with great joy and rejoicing. I think of my own need for the Gospel today and my need for the word of God.

When I hear about the spiritual straying of the children of believers, I remember that everyone of us needs the same thing–the grace of God in the Gospel. I remember the power of the message of Christ crucified. I remember that part of my task, as a minister of that Gospel, is to remind Christian parents of these things. With grief, I remember watching my mother–who is now with the Lord Jesus–age significantly on account of the burden that I placed on her from her having to deal with over almost a decade of my running to the world. But, I also remember how the Lord finally brought me to repentance and enabled me see my need for the pardoning and cleansing blood of Jesus. I remember calling home to my mom and telling her, “I now know what Paul meant when he wrote, ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.'” I remember the joy she experienced as we watched the Lord restore the years that the locust of sin and rebellion had eaten (Joel 2:25).

 

29 Responses

  1. Pingback : Saturday Shout-Outs: Corpus Christi, WorshipGod, & Ministry Links | H.B. Charles Jr.

  2. Monica

    Thank you Nicholas for your encouragement. My son has disassociated himself from us because of our stand on biblical principles. We continue to love and pray for him. We know that God is faithful. God bless, Monica

  3. Pingback : Monday Challenge 8.3.15 – Cost of Friendship, The Womb Month By Month, When Kids Stray

  4. Thanks for this helpful article. We have been doing these things with our children as well. However, I would also add one thing and that to be apological as well, i. e. be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is in you. Rebellion is not just drugs and late nights out with unsavory friends. There is an intellectual rebellion as well. This is one struggle with one of our children. By the way this is how Richard Dawkins began. He grew up Anglican but saw the answers to his questions in science and ‘abandoned’ the faith. Yet, the other five items you mention are right on but there does come a time when a child may ask you “Why?” and you have to defend your faith to them. Therefore, it is not only important to know what you believe, but also why you believe it. On one such occasion I asked my son what did he want, autonomy? He said, “Yes, exactly!” to which I told him, “Fine. You go make your own oxygen. Better yet, make your own trees which make the oxygen. In fact make your own universe and then you can have your autonomy.” His eyes grew large with shock. I then told him, “No matter how far you run or how intelligent you might be you will always be dependent upon God whether you like it our not.” I bet that if you look hard enough Nick, that you will see that your folks used some apolgotics with you as well. Thanks for these reminders and help.

  5. Pingback : A La Carte (8.6.15) | familylifeatccc

  6. Pingback : Sunday Supper August 9, 2015 | a pastors ponderings

  7. Pingback : Favorite Links Lately | Visionary Womanhood

  8. Pingback : Loving Your Young Adult/Teen Child in the Difficult Times - Thankful Homemaker

  9. Pingback : The Apollos Project - Around the Web

  10. Very encouraging as we try to navigate the murky waters of shepherding a wayward son. One prayer I have been encouraged to add – that God make the things that seem delightful to our son become detestable to him. Thanks.

  11. Pingback : What Should We Do When They Stray? – Family Life Pastor

  12. Pingback : Do You Have An Unsaved Child? | Kernels of Wheat

  13. Thank you for sharing your story that can bring hope to many. Our daughter is about to head off to college soon. Our prayers are God would surround her with believers. High school has been a confusing place with all the irrational thinking as the norm and the values and truth at home seem “close minded”. She acts very distant and angry towards us. We have tried many approaches. I agree to continue to speak truth into her and continue to pray God would bring believers in her life. We pray the seeds would sprout Godly fruit. She is a sweet young lady that does not want to hurt or offend. This has caused much of the worldly confusion. We know her heart is troubled and confused.

    My grandmother never shared the gospel that I can remember, but she faithfully sent me Daily Light for many years. I finally saw the light as a young adult. I am ever so grateful to those little books.

    I will pass your letter on to friends with the same aching heart for their child.

    Many blessings

  14. Nancy Peavy

    Thank you for that Nick; it’s exactly what I needed to read this morning! Though I pray incessantly for my son with hope and expectations for my Covenant child, a plan of action is what I’ve been needing and your words have helped me with that. May God continue to bless you and your family as you serve Him in Richmond Hill!

  15. Dan

    Dear Rev. Batzig-I thank God for you. How encouraging a balm to sorrowing hearts has been what you have written! As a parent of a prodigal who is now ‘in a far country’, what you have written confirms and solidifies our thoughts and experience. I have frequently voiced Paul’s lament: “Lord, I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my son, and my heart’s desire and prayer to God for him is, that he might be saved.” It also does explode the myth that is unfortunately a poor exegesis of Proverbs 22:6, that right Christian parenting guarantees a Christian child, and reminds us that ‘Salvation is solely of the Lord.” I particularly resonated with your encouragement to pray for our prodigals fervently, faithfully and fully persuaded that God who is Sovereign, has ordained our prayers (including praying ‘Lord, do what it takes, only save him.”), as a means to save the souls of the unregenerate, as well your emphasis on being kind, loving and firm. I find great hope in knowing that once I too was lost and t’was grace that taught my heart to fear and it was amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. Our prayer is that at the end of the day… that amazing grace that Newton wrote about will be the experiential reality of our children as well.

    My wife and I have often prayed that when the Lord in His Sovereign grace changes the disposition of or child’s heart so that “when he comes to his senses”, he will find his way back home because he will find that our hearts are open (2 Cor. 6:11), and our doors are open. I want to encourage others with a word of hope I read in the Banner of Truth… for the weary and the wounded…

    “The Christian’s greatest joys are reserved for the world to come. Those which he experiences here on earth are wonderful enough. But they by no means match the superior comforts and triumphs which await him hereafter. It is for this reason that all Christians believe that the best joys will be on the farther side of the grave and in eternity our laughing-time will then coincide with the world’s crying-time.

    Once a believer enters eternity he will have nothing but a rising tide of comforts and pleasures. His prayers and service will bring him posthumous joy.

    Thank you again Pastor Nick, for this word of encouragement and edification and sharing your life.

    Take the example of a Christian father and mother. They brought up their children in this world in the ways of God. But both died before they heard of the salvation of any of their family. Their children, we may say, brought down their parents’ ‘grey hairs with sorrow to the grave’ (Genesis 42:38). To all outward appearance the parents’ labour of love was lost. Their sons and daughters saw no need of God or of the Saviour. With a sigh both parents closed their eyes at death on a family whose only ‘religion’ was worldly pleasure.

    Imagine then their joy in the glory of the upper world to see their once rebellious children coming one by one to Zion! Picture their ecstasy as they hear the story of how a Holy Spirit graciously and sovereignly arrested them with the recollection, years after their parents’ death, of truths taught by them and exemplified in their lives. What happy posthumous joy!” (from Maurice Roberts).

    Thus…”let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

    “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

    Dan

  16. DLD

    Thank you for this. Your article helped me put so many of my worries into perspective. Our daughter is struggling with a “spiritual rebellion,” and says that her decisions are God’s will because she prayed about them. She told us she was engaged but never told us she had decided to date, told us she wasn’t coming home for the summer because she needed to minister to a friend… she has no job and refuses to help mend her relationship with us. She has decided that we do not have proper hermaneutics because our “interpretation of salvation doesn’t show God’s love for everyone.”
    I know she isn’t drinking, doing drugs or sleeping with her boyfriend, but it is hard to see her walk away from us and break ties with our family- and all in the name of God because now she’s 21 and is God’s responsibility- not ours. (Her words to us because we are not showing”faith that God will take care of (her).”
    I will pray and trust God to have His will.

  17. Pingback : Trusting God with the Impossible as Mothers - Thankful Homemaker

  18. George

    I need a little clarification from the author. If Romans 9 means what you say it means, that seems to lead to the conclusion that if my child was prepared as a vessel of wrath, there is nothing I as a parent can do to change that outcome. Is that what you are implying by your discussion about Calvinism?

    Bottom line – can we as parent affect our child’s soul outcome in any way?

Leave a Reply to Daren Russell Cancel Reply